Driver confronted childhood bully at a party

Like many celebrities, the Good Will Hunting star has felt compelled to speak out against cruel teens after a string of recent school suicides across America - all brought on by bullying.

And Driver has revealed she was a victim herself when she was growing up.

Appearing on comedienne Ellen DeGeneres' talk show on Wednesday (13Oct10), Driver applauded the host for leading the anti-bullying charge following a string of lesbian and gay-related teenage suicides in America this summer (10), and then recalled her own teen torment tale.

She said, "I remember this new girl arrived when I was like nine years old, and I was completely happy at my school, very confident, and, for whatever reason, she decided that she needed to take me down, and for the next five years, just every single day repeatedly, it was just abusive and frightening.

"It wasn't until I finally realised that I could fight back and I literally smacked her, it never happened again."

And, unlike many victims of bullying, the actress got the chance to confront her tormentor years later when she met the mean girl who had haunted her nightmares as a pre-teen at a party.

She added, "She was there with her husband and her kids and I got the same kind of chilled fear in my stomach when I saw her... and after a couple of drinks I went over to her and I was like, 'Can I just ask you, you remember everything that went on, right...? The systematic and repeated bullying that you inflicted on me.'

"Her face went white and she looked like she was going to throw up or burst into tears, and I said, 'Why did you do it?'

"She said, 'It was my identity... I was frightened of who you were - creative and loud and sort of gregarious - and my identity became stopping that and shutting that down in you because it was shut down in me.'

"That minute, I realised that she was, in a way, as damaged by what she'd done as I had felt damaged myself. It was an interesting and good moment, but I don't think everybody has that opportunity to face their aggressor later on."